


That's the Best You Can Strive For (Right?)

by PennamePersona



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Happy Ending, Inner Conflict but No Graphic Descriptions, Introspection, Spoilers - Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 08:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennamePersona/pseuds/PennamePersona
Summary: Asriel is walking alone, past the ruins. His mother always tells him to be careful there. After all, there are many traps in the ruins, and it would be horrible if he were hurt, for him and for all of monsterkind.So Asriel is careful.





	That's the Best You Can Strive For (Right?)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Secret Santa gift for tumblr user trashytherat! You said you liked fics with Asriel, so I did a character study of canon events, in a True Pacifist timeline! Hope you like it!

Asriel is walking alone, past the ruins. His mother always tells him to be careful there. After all, there are many traps in the ruins, and it would be horrible if he were hurt, for him and for all of monsterkind.

 

So Asriel is careful.

 

Today, the space outside the ruins feels...different. Something’s changed, and whatever it is, it stands Asriel’s fur on end for a moment -

 

But then he sees the human child.

 

“Oh!” He says, rushing over to them. His parents have always told him to be kind and try to help those who are hurt. It’s always worked well for him. All of monsterkind benefits from his parents’ rule, bumbling as it sometimes may be, and they love their prince. Asriel has never been hurt by another monster.

 

“Are you okay?” Asriel asks, pulling the human child to their feet. They groan, but stand up more or less alright. Asriel hooks one of their arms around his shoulders and supports them as best he can. “What’s your name?”

 

They smile as they tell him.

 

* * *

 

Asriel never imagined he would have a sibling. It’s not really a usual thing, for Boss Monsters.

 

But he does, now! And it’s nice!

 

It is.

 

Of course it is.

 

Sometimes his sibling can be a bit scary, but they’re just cleverer than him. They’re just better at jokes. That’s all. That’s all it is. He just doesn’t understand.

 

That must be it.

 

Like when they put in those flowers, and dad got sick, of course it was silly. Of course it was a joke, even though mom didn’t seem to think so, and mom usually loves jokes.

 

But it has to be good to have a sibling. Asriel saved them, that has to be a good thing!

 

Right?

 

* * *

 

It’s that question that echoes through Asriel’s head while his body is controlled.

 

_It’s a good thing I saved them, right?_

 

_I should’ve helped, right?_

 

_I shouldn’t have left them there, alone, right?_

 

_I did something good, right?_

 

_Right?_

 

It’s hard to believe that, now. No matter how many times Asriel’s mother told him that it was good to put kindness into the world, no matter how often Asriel watched his father stop to help every monster who so much as tripped while he was around…

 

This can’t have been worth it.

 

Asriel feels his body force itself back through the barrier, and it hurts. It hurts so much, it’s tearing him apart, and he can’t imagine that anything was worth this.

 

* * *

 

Asriel wakes up.

 

He screams.

 

He shouts, he begs, he screeches, but nothing happens.

 

He can’t move. Can he? Maybe he can, but it feels...different, somehow, like this isn’t his body, not like he’s used -

 

He’s a flower.

 

This is absurd, he thinks. I must look ridiculous, he thinks.

 

Mom would laugh, he thinks. Me as a flower. Dad would -

 

And then he remembers.

 

* * *

 

Flowey is good at knowing what is right and what is wrong.

 

He may not be as clever as they were, but he understands them, now. Too much has happened for him to ever go back to that _stupid_ way of thinking, like the world is fine and no one wants to hurt anyone else.

 

Clearly, some people have a pretty strong commitment to violence. Flowey used to try and stop them, of course, when he was still wrestling with that whiny little voice in his mind, but now he gets it. They were right, of course. It’s better to attack first.

 

Of course it is.

 

Who wants to get hurt, after all? Better to kill first. Better to be safe. Better to fight before they have a chance, better to be alone, just in case.

 

But he’s never really alone. He can’t bring himself to go too far, always stays by the ruins. He remembers being happy here - that was happy, right? When he was still -

 

It’s better to be alone, here. Mostly alone, at least, and it’s a small underground. No one can ever be truly alone. It’s too crowded.

 

That’s what it is, he thinks, watching her water the flowers. That’s it. It’s too crowded.

 

I couldn’t be alone, he thinks, watching her smile into the yellow petals. This is the closest I can manage. That’s all.

 

She walks back into the ruins, and Flowey finally relaxes.

 

I’m glad to be alone, he thinks. That’s what this is. That’s all.

 

* * *

 

When the second human falls, Flowey wants to shriek, to scream, to cry out and curse and scream and _hate_ , so he does.

 

He hates them.

 

They walk around, spare every single monster that crosses their path, helps everyone who asks, and he hates their ignorance. It’s stupid, he tries to say. Don’t you know you’ll get hurt, he tries to ask, but they’re just out of his reach.

 

He’s waiting for them, in the palace. He’s waiting, and when they almost get past that idiotic excuse for a king, he strikes.

 

I’m doing this because they deserve it, he thinks, while he laughs. I’m teaching them what they need to be taught. This is their fault, he thinks.

 

Their fault, he keeps thinking, as they push past his attacks. This is on them, I’m doing the right thing, he thinks, as they hold out their hand.

 

This isn’t right, he thinks, shrinking into himself. They’re wrong, he thinks. This isn’t what I wanted, this isn’t what I meant, this is my fault -

 

And then there’s the awful feeling of the timeline changing, and he’s back, he has all his power, and he’s back, just as he was meant to be.

 

He’s _Asriel Dreemurr_ again, but grown, just like he was meant to be. Just like he would’ve been, if it wasn’t for them, so he attacks. He throws himself into the attacks -

 

But they do nothing.

 

It isn’t enough, no matter what he throws at them, and Asriel Dreemur falls to pieces, once again.

 

* * *

 

Asriel’s alone, again, just past the ruins. He smiles, a bit wistfully, into the field of yellow flowers.

 

There’s a small noise behind him, and he closes his eyes, shakes his head. He turns, and of course, there they are.

 

“Don’t worry about me,” He says, like dismissing them ever worked.

 

“I was the one that resisted,” He says, which feels like the worst thing he's ever thought finally leaving his head, finally seeing the light of day.

 

“I don’t regret that decision anymore,” He says, and oh, it feels good to mean that.

 

“Frisk,” He says, smiling as he wipes away his tears. “Thank you for listening to me.”

 

“Oh, and Frisk…” He says. “Be careful in the outside world, OK?”

 

Be safe, he thinks, looking at this second human child, this kind person who saved him like he thinks he might’ve deserved.

 

“Well, see you.” He says.

 

Thank you, he thinks. You did what no one else managed, not in a thousand other timelines.

 

Thank you, he thinks, for finally doing what was right.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays, everyone!
> 
> I take writing requests! Information at: [provisionalpenname on tumblr](https://provisionalpenname.tumblr.com)


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